All 24 fighters scheduled to compete on tomorrow’s fight card hit their respective marks without incident.

Headlining the “Bisping vs. Leites” fight card is middleweight striker and perennial contender Michael “The Count” Bisping, as he tries to get back into the 185-pound title hunt against the resurgent Thales Leites, winner of eight straight.

Elsewhere in the FOX Sports 1 line up, which follows “Prelims” on UFC Fight Pass, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 champion Ross “Real Deal” Pearson tries to make it two straight at 155 pounds against well-rounded veteran Evan Dunham.

The 5’8″ “Sledgehammer” will give up six inches of height to Stringer.
Hans Stringer (22-6-3) extended his unbeaten streak to seven in his UFC debut by narrowly edging Nova Uniao’s Francimar Barroso in hostile territory. His cardio failed him his next time out, however, suffering a second-round technical knockout loss to Fabio Maldonado.

Explanations behind each pick are not required and some writers opt not to do so for their own reasons. For example, if Phil Mackenzie entered all of his predictions on Tuesday without adding in any explanations, he has no idea if he’s going to be the only one siding with one fighter for any given fight.

Anton Tabuena: After his earlier stint, who would’ve thought that Leites would be headlining a UFC event in 2015? It’s pretty impressive, but I think he has his hands full on this one. Even if Bisping seems to be closing the end of his athletic prime, he should still be the better overall fighter. Michael Bisping by Decision.

Mookie Alexander: Truth be told, I would pick Leites in a 3 round fight. But I don’t trust him to win later rounds against someone like Bisping. This is a case where Leites has to, as Zane said, either win like Kennedy over 5 rounds or destroy him like Rockhold, Vitor, etc. have done in the past. For as much as Leites’ striking has improved and Bisping’s chin is getting worse by the minute, there’s a big difference between schooling Francis Carmont and then Michael Bisping. I think Bisping starts slowly (as usual) and then starts to work his boxing a little bit more, stuff the takedowns, tire Leites out, and get a decision. I wouldn’t be shocked if Leites got the win, though. There is going to come a time where Bisping starts losing to guys he’d otherwise beat regularly (8 out of 12 times, or 80%), and we almost saw it happen vs. Dollaway. Michael Bisping by unanimous decision.

Zane Simon: This is one of those weird fights where I don’t feel like there’s a good, concrete prediction to be made. Leites is a few years younger than Bisping, but he’s actually been fighting longer. While he’s looked better lately, I’m not particularly sure that that’s not just because Bisping is fighting and losing to better competition. Eventually, my question becomes: Can Leites squeak out a decision going the Kennedy/Sonnen route, or is he dynamic enough to pull a Rockhold? Frankly, I’m not convinced of any of those things. Bisping is super hard to submit and for as often as he gets hurt in fights, it’s really only guys with facemelting power that have put him away. Leites will have to be super consistent everywhere to win and well… I’m picking Michael Bisping by decision, especially over 5 rounds.

Fraser Coffeen: I’m really struggling here because I just don’t feel like I have a good read on either guy at all at this point in their careers. I feel like Bisping is generally a pretty underrated fighter, with many fans confusing their dislike of his personality with a dismissal of his skills. But he’s been struggling more and more lately and has not picked up back to back wins since 2011.

Meanwhile, Leites has never really super impressed me, which feels weird to say about a guy on an 11-1 run against all solid competition. Prime vs. prime, this is all Bisping, but in 2015? Much harder to call, and while I lean Bisping (as apparently does the entire staff), don’t let our near clean sweep fool you into thinking this is a lopsided fight. Michael Bisping by decision.